Don Vickery has been a vital part of the Toronto jazz scene ever since he relocated there from Halifax in 1959. An honors graduate of the famed Oscar Peterson School of Music, he has worked with the world's leading jazz artists, entertainers, and big bands in recordings, on radio and television shows, touring, and in live performance in hundreds of clubs and concert venues. A dedicated jazz educator, he has been a member of the Jazz Faculty at Humber College since 1974. He is an original member of the Canadian Jazz Quartet, and plays with the Norman Amadio Trio, Jim Galloway’s Wee Big Band, and The Spitfire Band. He was Musical Director at Quotes Bar & Grill in Toronto, presenting hundreds of the country’s leading jazz performers throughout the seven years the acclaimed “Fridays at Five” jazz series was headquartered there.

Although best-known as one of Canada’s finest jazz drummers, Don Vickery has conducted a successful parallel career in photography from the time more than three decades ago he began taking his lifelong passion for this visual art form to a professional level. He achieved early recognition as an accomplished and frequently published sports photographer, handling ‘official’ duties at the highest levels of professional golf, tennis, motorsport, and equestrian events before he began focusing more exclusively on the jazz genre. He has been charged with visually capturing the flavour and performance genius at the ‘Toronto Jazz Festival’ for the entire 26 years of its existence, and also has responsibility for performance photography at Humber College. Don Vickery was voted “Jazz Photographer of the Year” when the Award – in memory of celebrated photographer (the late) Paul Hoeffler – was presented for the first time during The National Jazz Awards in 2006. He was again named National Jazz Awards’ “Jazz Photographer of the Year” in 2008.